from: Shanghai Daily
More foreigners are coming to Shanghai to learn Chinese for business purposes nowadays.Audencia Nantes, a noted French business school, recently sent a group of executive Master of Business Administration students to the city for International Study Week.
Arriving at January 13 and leaving after a week, the 23 participants had the chance to have intensive lectures from scholars from Tongji University as well as dropping in to local companies to exchange ideas with working business professionals.
Participants were from all professions, enterprises and non-profit organizations, including commercial, marketing, production, financial and senior management.
The topics discussed varied from China's economic revolution to luxury goods in China, to the effect of globalization on China's economic growth, business opportunities in Shanghai all the way to foreign direct investment and multi-national corporations in China.
Audencia Nantes has opened its first overseas office in Tongji's School of Economics and Management.
Audencia Nantes aims to further improve contact with students, companies and shareholders in China as it already has numerous alumni here.
In turn, Tongji will establish its own office on the French school's campus. Developed from partnership centered on exchange students from 2004, the two universities are now planning closer bonds and double degree programs.
During the study trip in the city, the experienced managers also visited a variety of mainland industrial design companies - such as Semiconductor International Manufacturing Corporation, and Jiangyin city, a successful high-tech economic development zone in neighboring Jiangsu Province.
Coming to China for the first time, Fabrice Chaplin, an executive manager in a non-profit organization, said that he was impressed by the scale and speed of growth happening in Shanghai.
"I was impressed by the will of the Chinese to invest in new technology ... It was 'made in China' before, now it aims to be 'designed in China'," he said.
Some participants are currently seeking potential business in China and valued the trip a great deal.
Another MBA student Christophe Chaleau is in a company which is currently co-developing a software product with a local company.
"The trip is a good window to the Chinese economy, and I was impressed," he said. "But, the schedule was too packed for us to have the opportunity to see more of the factories."
These MBA participants were amazed by the scale of construction when they took buses around and out of the city. One week was too short.
"I will definitely come back and see other cities in China," Chaplin said.
